I just finished rebuilding the axle... new gaskets, seals and bearings. Put on an extended breather and new shoes. Got everything set back up, bled the brakes. Kinda spongy. Bled again, still a little spongy, but not as bad. Bled again. Same... not so bad, not so great...but I've been driving my wife's 2006 Outback for a month...

Wondering if the rear shoes just aren't adjusting right... Figured out that the bellcranks are totally seized. I tried freeing them up, but they really need to be replaced.

So Question: will these self adjust without the parking brake, just by normal brake actuation? I want to get this thing on the road for a quick trip this weekend and would love to not wait longer.

I've found conflicting info on this. Any sugggestions?

The rear shoes not hitting the drum wall hard wont affect the feel of your pedal really.

When you were bleeding you held the pedal to the ground as someone else bled, ya? open the reservoir - pump 3 times - hold it - bleed. If they are bled right then you should hit the pedal and its nice and firm. Spongy is not okay.

Do all four tires, and start with the furthest from the master cylinder - rear passenger, rear driver - then front passenger, front driver.

You can manually adjust your shoes from the rear top of the drum - there is a small rounded rectangluar rubber plug that you pull out giving you a small window that you can either use a brake spoon or screwdriver in on a small gear. Lift your tire when you are doing this and when you are pretty much on you spin the tire but it slows itself down a bit - tiny bit of drag.

Alternatively you can pull those drums again and adjust that screw arm thing up top in the assembly widening out the shoes until you can just barely fit the drum back on.